Not Just a Cold
by IMMA BRICK HOUSE
Summary: Sirius worries over a sick Remus after he has determined that Remus doesn't have "just a cold" anymore. Sirius x Remus fluff
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I haven't written anything in ages... Well, hello everyone! Nice to be writing again! I hope you all enjoy this short little oneshot, brought upon by my cold in the middle of summer :(( Life isn;t fair sometimes.  
Enjoy and review!  
Love,  
Alex**  
**XOXOXO**

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**Not "Just a Cold"**

When I bring my hand to his forehead, it's much too hot-burning even- yet he's still shivering despite the mound of quilts I have piled on top of him. I run my hand down the curve of his cheek, wincing at the temperature, at his hot breath against my much-cooler skin.

"Rem, I don't think this is 'just a cold' anymore." I say softly, sitting down on the bed next to him.  
"You've obviously got something serious."

His bleary eyes gaze up at me from half-closed lids and I sigh, cursing his weak immune system. One hand, cold despite his raging fever, makes it's way slowly out of his cocoon of blankets and gropes around for my hand. I rest my hand over his lightly, rubbing his thumb with my index finger as I continue to watch his face. He coughs once, then turns his head sideways, flushed face red against the stark whiteness of our sheets. His hair is soaked with sweat near his scalp, sticking to his brow like it would after a shower. I smooth it back, and Remus sighs as my hand strokes his face.

"Now," I continue, "Either I Floo Lily and have her fuss over you with me, or we can go to St. Mungo's and figure out what you've got. Which shall it be?" I don't even see a flicker of hesitation in his eyes before he blurts out "Lily" in a raspy voice. I knew he would want Lily even before I asked- he hates St. Mungo's with a passion. I hate the place too, but it is always another option when he falls ill like this. Lily is an extremely accomplished medi-witch, but even she can't get her hands on some of the potions and elixers Remus sometimes desperately needs.

I bend over and kiss his forehead, biting at the inside of my lip at the heat. He shivers and when I go to pull my hand away so I may Floo Lily, he whimpers, lip quivering and eyebrows slanted up into the heartbreaking "Please don't leave me" expression. How could I ever resist such a face? I peel back the multiple blankets covering my boyfriend and kick off my boots, wiggling my toes in my thick woolen socks as I clamber into bed with Remus. He shakes violently as his body is exposed to the air, and I quickly wrap my arms around him and pull the covers back up so he won't get a bad chill. He slides freezing fingers into my shirt to press up against warm skin, squeezes feet which are clothed in two pairs of socks in between my calves, and tucks his head into the hollow of my collarbone, a breath hitching in his chest that sounds like a sob.

"Oh Rem..." I sigh, kissing his sweaty hair and sliding my hands up his back, holding him tight to my chest. I can feel his ribs through the thick turtleneck sweater of mine that he's wearing, the sweater that's sleeves he has to roll up because I have longer arms than him. He shudders and sniffs against me, and I can feel his eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings against my neck. I feel his super-humanly fast, frail heartbeat against my own, reminding me of this vulnerable, breakable, sick person in my arms, a person who can make my throat clench up with such a strong urge to protect and to love that I've never felt before. He's so fragile and easily broken- I always have to remind myself to be careful and soft and sweet with my Remus, for he is always gentle and patient and loving towards me- causing someone as sweet as he pain or not treating him as the prince he deserves to be treated as would be unforgivable.

"Sirius, I... I don't feel well." he whispers, and I can feel his lips move against the smooth skin of my throat, blocking the true misery in his tone from escaping into the air. My stomach clenches at the pain in his soft voice, and I close my eyes and sigh.

"Baby, I know. I know. What can I do to help?" I ask him, aching to get him out of his fit of fever and coughs and who know what else. He makes a squeaking noise, his hands scrabbling for a hold on my chest, for anything he can grab onto. I unwrap one arm from around his back and take both his hands in one of mine, gently threading my fingers through his and bringing it up to my face. I kiss each finger, each bony knuckle, the spider-web thin scars that criss-cross his delicate limbs, then the back of his hand, planting one final kiss to the inside of his wrist before pulling him close to me again.

"Just go to sleep love." I say, resting my chin on top of his head.  
"I'll Floo Lily in a while. Rest, alright? I'll stay until you're asleep." He heaves out a shaky sigh, tainting his arms around my neck and latching on, wrapping his legs tight around my legs and hiccuping. He curls his fingers through my hair and I feel his eyes droop close against my neck, his breathing slow down to a more even, relaxed pace.

I take some happiness from the simple comfort I can give him. Just being here with him helped him relax enough to go to sleep, and it made me feel relaxed to know I have him in my arms. I was getting anxious all morning when I had to get food that he wouldn't be okay, but then when I got back, I could stand in the doorway for hours and just stare at him, with his pale, pointed face and his big, expressive golden eyes and his too-thin lips and that little furrow his eyebrows get when he's worried, even his pointed ears. He's the most important, beautiful, loving person in my world. His hair is silky against my cheek, and I breath in the soft, warm smell that is Remus.

A smell of pumpkins, of autumn, of chocolate and parchment and peppermints, though his smell is tainted somewhat by the smell of the Pepperup potion that I made him take a few hours ago.

Though I feel guilty doing so, I scootch farther away from Remus under the blankets, feeling my body start to overheat from the warmth coming off of his body and the blankets. I wiggle out of the blankets, and Remus stiffens, his hands reaching out and clamping onto my shirt like vices. I cover his lips with my index finger, rubbing his upper lip with the very tip. I slide my legs out and nearly groan in happiness as the cool winter air in our house hits my skin. I pull Remus's head into my lap and gently unclamp his fingers from my shirt, smoothing out each digit and massaging his knuckles. They must be aching something awful, since he always gets bad aches when he has a virus, and his next transformation is only a week and two days away. A faint smile plays on his lips, and I trail one hand down his cheek, tracing his lips and his nose, smoothing ou

t his delicate eyebrows, just brushing over his eyelashes. I bend down and kiss the top of his nose, then kiss each eyelid, the corner of his lip, then finally right on his lips, a chaste, gentle kiss that was to mean nothing but "I love you.".

He sniffles and I smile, caressing his cheek once before sitting up straight and leaning back against the headboard. I wait until his breathing is slow, deep and as even as it will be, and slowly ease his head off my legs, gently setting it down on a pillow and smoothing out his hair. I hop off the bed and tiptoe out of our bedroom, turning back to glance at him before walking through the doorway. The old stairs let out an obnoxiously loud creak as I step onto the first step, and I freeze, waiting for a moan or a plea of some sort to come back. When I hear nothing but a hacking cough, I proceed down the steps with a heavy heart to Floo Lily.


	2. A Worried Floo Call

**AN: Well, whattya know! I decided to go forward with this oneshot! But it was just so cute, it was practically begging to be turned into a little story :)  
Thanks to Avada Lestrange (I love your icon, by the way!), BlakeLovesPeace1103, (great to hear from you again!) and my anonymous reviewer "Guest", who wanted the story to continue. This chapter is short and sweet, so hope you all enjoy it trememndously!  
Thanks for all the faves on this, as well!  
LOve,  
Alex  
XOXOXO**

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**A Worried Floo Call**

I throw a handful of Floo powder into the roaring fire in our fireplace and glance upstairs briefly before stepping into the green flames. I shout "The Potter's Kitchen!" and The fireplace starts to spin, and I squeeze my eyes shut tight, because I get Floo-sick. I the seeing all the other fireplaces and not knowing where I could possibly pop out of. It's a disturbing experience, and by far my least favorite method of travel. Give me a broomstick any day of the week.

I finally feel the fireplace slam to a jerky stop, and I am launched out of it to land with a resounding thud in Lily's tiny livingroom. After I peel my face off the floor, I stand up, shake the Floo powder out of my hair, and poke my head around the corner of the kitchen, searching for Lily. I can hear her voice somewhere; faint, but I can still here it. I snitch a cookie off of her counter as I start to move from room to room in search of her. Her voice gets louder as I draw nearer to her and James's bedroom, and I open the door to look inside. She's got that foul muggle device Remus calls a "fellytone" to her ear, and she's waving her wand around, making James socks dance right into his sock drawer, magically folding shirts and sending them zooming back towards her closet. I skip forward into her room, startling Lily out of her methodical sock dancing and collapsing onto her bed, sending neatly folded clothes tumbling to the floor. The look she gives me could freeze hell over multiple times. She says a few more brief words into the fellytone, then rests it on her nightstand and glares at me.

"I really hope you have a good reason for ruining all my laundry, you hopeless mutt." she snaps, bending down to pick up all the clothes I disrupted. I sit up on the bed and cross my legs, holding up a rather ragged shirt of James's and handing it to her.

"Actually, I do." I say, and Lily turns around with a expression that clearly says she doesn't believe me.

"Remus got worse. It's definitely not a cold now- I think he has a flu, but I just want you to look at him. He's really not feeling great." Lily's face instantly changes into an expression of worry, as I expected it to. She's very protective of Remus, almost more than I am.

"Does he still have a fever?" she asks me as she walks out of the room. I jump off the bed, causing more clothes to fall (oops) and hurry after her.

"Yeah, and he's still got that awful cough. Any idea what it might be?"

Lily turns abruptly into the Potter's bathroom, opening a cabinet behind the mirror and looking at all her flasks of potions, elixirs, and lotions.

"Probably just a flu, but thats why I'm worried. He's gotten sick almost every week, Sirius. Don't you think that something could be majorly wrong?"

I shake my head.  
"Remus explained this whole thing to me yesterday. During the winter, he always gets sick easier, which we know. But he said that as he gets older, his immune system starts to get weaker and weaker. It becomes much easier for him to get something, even if he just got over having it. It's been rough on him. That, combined with his next transformation, is going to be hell." I sigh, thinking about what's going to happen to him next week. When his human form is weak and ill, it enrages the wolf when he transforms, because then the wolf isn't healthy enough or strong enough to exert the full force of it's energy. It reduces itself to tearing its body apart with its teeth, and nothing James or I can do can stop it. There's a very high possibility that we may be taking Remus to St. Mungo's next week.

"Ah!" Lily exclaims, pulling a small glass bottle out of the cabinet filled with silver liquid.  
"Fever-reducing potion! I've been looking for this for ages! This would've helped a lot when James got dragon pox last month."

She pulls a couple more bottles out of the cabinet, all different shapes and sizes, with all different colors fluids inside of them. I take two from her so she doesn't drop any, and she's off to the living room towards the fireplace. She rests two of the bottles against the cool brick while she grabs a pinch of green Floo powder from a jar on the mantle-place. She throws it on the small fire, which immediately roars up big and green. She grabs the two bottles on the floor and steps into the fire, shouts "Number 12, Grimmaud Place!" and spins out of focus. I carefully position the bottles in my arms so I won't drop them when I start to spin and step cautiously into the fireplace, enjoying the sensation of the flames tickling my skin.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place." I say loudly and clearly, and squeeze my eyes shut before I start to spin, not wanting to get nauseous.

The spinning stops as soon as it starts when I pop out of my fireplace, cushioning the bottle with my shirt as I fall onto the hard floor. Lily stands waiting with a hand out, so I give her both bottles and pop up, running over to the staircase and taking the steps two at time to get up it faster. When I reach the top I slow my pace, tiptoeing to me and Remus's room and quietly opening the door. His untidy mop of golden hair is just visible above the covers. I walk over to the edge of the bed and sit down beside him, reaching my hands down to cradle his face. I stroke his cheekbones with my thumbs, and his long eyelashes flutter. One gold eye cracks open a slit, and his lips curve up into a weak smile when he sees my face.

"Sirius..." he sighs, so quietly I can barely hear it.  
"Hey babe," I say softly, bending down to lightly brush my lips against his. When I pull back he lifts his head up slightly, longing for more. I lean back down and gently kiss him, and he pulls one hand out from underneath the blankets to shakily trace along my jaw. I catch his hand in mine, rubbing his palm to warm it. A sigh from the back of the room causes me to break apart from Remus to stare at Lily, who's smiling sadly while watching me and Remus.

"Rem, Lily's here." I say, kissing his cheek before sitting up and letting Lily take my spot.

"Hey Remmy, how are you feeling?" she asks, running one hand over his brow to feel it's temperature. She winces, like I did before, at how hot it is.

"Never been b-bet-" Remus hoarse reply is broken up by a fierce fit of coughing. Hacking, throaty coughs that make my lungs ache. Lily quickly rolls his limp body over so he's on his side, patting his back through his thick sweater. I pace around the bed helplessly, not knowing what I should do to help Remus, and being frustrated because he's in pain and I'm NOT HELPING. but Lily knows what she's doing, so I just sit down on the opposite side of the bed and stretch out beside my Remus, wrapping and arm around him and kissing his temple while Lily goes through her collection of potions.


End file.
